whats a better idea for overheads?

[Nick The Man]

oktava MC-012's or SP B1's


ps is there such a thing as a matched pair of SP B1's

[cavedog101]

Two entirely different animals.The patterns would be soooo much different that a comparison is mute.This adds up to your own in-person assessment.
All SP mics come with a colored dot on the body.Buying two with the same color gets you fairly close in frequency responses.

[noisedude]

I thought the dots were rough matching of output levels?

Nick - you are going to have to do some serious reading, because they are very different. Apart from anything else, as Cavedog101 implies, the B1s have a very wide cardioid pattern, which may or may not be preferable depending on your uses. I would have no qualms using my B3 (or a pair of them) for a jazz kit, but I might want something a little tighter for rock, aiming to get better seperation.

That said, my drum recordings suck ass IMO, so I'm no expert!!

[Nick The Man]

Originally Posted by noisedude

I thought the dots were rough matching of output levels?

Nick - you are going to have to do some serious reading, because they are very different. Apart from anything else, as Cavedog101 implies, the B1s have a very wide cardioid pattern, which may or may not be preferable depending on your uses. I would have no qualms using my B3 (or a pair of them) for a jazz kit, but I might want something a little tighter for rock, aiming to get better seperation.

That said, my drum recordings suck ass IMO, so I'm no expert!!

yeah i totaly understand all of the differances i have already done my fair share of reading and i no longer consider myself a newbie!

i was just wondering ...well what to you think sounds better i dont see what the big deal is (im kinda expecting the small condesors to win this one but i wanted to see what everyone thought)

[noisedude]

Fair enough! I haven't used the Oktavas but there are people here who have used both ... I would tend to expect the SDCs to come out ... there is a reason that's where they tend to be found ... but you might be surprised, I dunno.

[Dot]

Either will do a good job. Nick, as long as you're looking around I'd recommend a pair of Oktava MK319's over the MC012's or B1's. Have a read in this thread.

FWIW, we've found that budget LDC's generally outperform budget SDC's on drum OH's.

One argument in favor of the B1's might be if you later upgrade your OH mics, the B1's could be moved to toms duty – which is one of the best applications for the B1, IMO.

[Nick The Man]

now i really dont know what to do! lol so many decisions


the problem with Oktava mics is they are so hard to find but if they are worth it then I WILL FIND THEM

[noisedude]

Dot - I just read that thread (a classic DJL post to close it!) and am wondering about kick drum mics. I've only used the AT ATM25 and the AKG D112, and out of the two I would take ATM25 for myself ... but the Red5 RVD1 is significantly cheaper - how highly are you recommending it? At £60 it's half the price of the Egg, but will it hang with them?

[Dot]

noise, I highly recommend the RVD1. Another great inexpensive kick mic is the Audio-Technica ATM25. I've got a little primer on kick drum mics. Take your pick. They'll easily hang with a D112 "egg".

[noisedude]

Cheers Dan, and thanks for the link. I recommended my drummer friend get an ATM25 based on feedback here, it's just a case of whether I go and get one of them for myself or the Red5 one ...

[Supercreep]

I don't have the 012s but I liked the B1 on OH. The only other ones I can compare to are the 603s.